For many independent and smaller manufacturers, it’s difficult to create quality furniture at middle-of-the-road prices, something in between the Ikea items beloved by 20-somethings and the furniture on display in a store like Crate and Barrel. And consumers, who don’t always know that they have plenty of purchasing options beyond the flat-packed box, often have incorrect expectations of what it costs to make good furniture and what they should have to pay for it.

Modern consumers are used to buying almost everything via the web. They’re also accustomed to online retailers disrupting traditional pricing structures. But this new paradigm hasn’t transferred well to the furniture industry. Generally speaking, cheap furniture is cheap furniture. You get what you pay for. Buying online can’t change that.

Companies like Ikea can provide reasonable value at a low price due to economy of scale. Ikea produces mass quantities of each item, something that’s not possible for most furniture makers. But it’s not just quantity that affects price. The quality of materials and workmanship matter too. And for online furniture retailers, shipping becomes a huge factor.

The Curbed article never offers any clear action steps, but I had three main takeaways:

If you want inexpensive, Ikea is a good bet. The company offers high quality at low prices.

If you want quality, be willing to “invest” several thousand dollars in a piece that’ll last for years — maybe even a lifetime.

If, like most people, you’re looking for something in the middle, then shop at a local furniture store. That’s where you’ll find the best balance of quality and price.

When it comes to furniture, I’m generally a “buy it for life” kind of guy. To me, furniture isn’t a disposable product. Yes, I have plenty of Ikea items — I’m writing this while sitting on an Ikea chair at an Ikea desk — but I usually try to pick pieces that I think I’ll keep forever.

In the corner of my office, for example, is the easy chair I purchased in 1993 when Kris and I moved into our first house. In the living room, I have several expensive Stickley pieces that I bought at a 50% discount during the Great Recession of 2009. (This was my first experience with “predatory shopping”.)

Nowadays, Kim and I have two approaches when shopping for furniture.

First up, we visit local furniture stores that we trust. These are places that friends have recommended or that we’ve been happy with in the past. We steer clear of chain stores or places that advertise heavily, opting instead to go to places that seem to have low overhead and no salespeople on the floor. If we can find what we want at one of these stores, we consider buying it. (We ordered a custom sofa for our new house, for example. It cost less than $1000 but has great quality and is perfect for our space.)

Next, we visit our favorite consignment stores. We’ve found a couple of shops here in Portland that offer awesome used furniture for reasonable prices. (This is a great way to find pieces that might no longer be in style, by the way.)

Between consignment stores and local furniture galleries, Kim and I have been pleased with the furniture we’ve purchased in the past five years. We feel like we’re getting good quality and a decent price. I should note that we always look at Costco too, but haven’t yet bought anything there. (The prices seem fine, but we never like the styles.)

How do you find affordable furniture? Do you tend to aim for low price — or do you prefer high quality? How do you find a balance? Have you purchased furniture online? What was that experience like?

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The majority of my furniture is antique. But not expensive refurnished antiques. Old, beat-up, but still tough-as-hell antiques. I’ve spent way less than most people, have more solidly-built furniture, and a cool retro vibe in my home. I wrote about it here: http://www.hipdiggs.com/antiques/

Man, I wish we had an Ikea here in Albuquerque, as not only are they cheap, they have that sort of minimalist aesthetic that I think would be fun to try out. But I’ve looked into it, and we’d need about a million more people for them to consider building here. Anyway, I live in a tiny condo, so I just bought whatever I wanted, seeing as how it hardly took any furniture to fill in my space. I went to places like Pier One, Ashley, La-Z-Boy, World Market, etc.

I am fortunate to live by 2 Habitat for Humanity ReStores. I’ve found a piece or 2 at Good Will as well. Otherwise garage sales are great. Hand me downs from family. My favorite chair ever, a heavy solid wood frame and leather MCM armchair, cost $3 from a White Elephant sale at the local zoo.

The only thing I purchased new for my house, was a custom made bare wood platform bed with drawers, from a local company going out of business. 5 years and 4 tenants later, and it’s still going strong.

I prefer the look, quality, and history of vintage pieces. I just don’t have the space or the budget for the good stuff yet. I would also like to try my hand at carpentry and building my own pieces. I made a small bookcase out of wooden crates, in college for the apartment, and that was about it.

I came here to mention Habitat for Humanity, too. The majority of my furniture comes from them – it’s definitely older style, but it will last much longer and didn’t cost nearly as much. I was able to buy my dining chairs for $3 each – can’t beat that! I had seen similar ones at various furniture stores for $150+ each. I also was able to find my bedroom set on craigslist from an older couple who were downsizing – you can’t beat a whole sturdy (real wood) set for $150.

Hey JD – Congrats on getting back GRS! Awesome!!! I’ll come back here often now.
I plan to procure most of our furniture for the Airbnb experiment from Ikea. Since it’s two states away, I’m kind of relying on places that can ship at lowish costs.
I did manage to score a reasonable deal on beds from Sam’s Club online, uses my Mom’s membership.

Most of my furniture is a hodgepodge of what JD mentioned above. I too prefer to buy furniture at local stores, and for the most part, that’s what we’ve done. One store sadly closed for various reasons, but we got a couch and loveseat for a song during their closeout sale. I paid full price for my bed at that same store at least 13 years ago and it’s still going strong. My current dresser is solid oak–it’s the same one I’ve had since I was a baby. :) A lot of our other furniture has been bought over time at a local mid-century modern (our favorite style) shop. The prices are generally very good for the quality (1960s) that you are getting. Our daughter’s crib was from Target, but we’ll be purchasing her bed from either a local furniture store or possibly giving IKEA a try. Her dresser was from another local furniture store–it was in their clearance section so we paid only a fraction of the price.

I’d be interested in knowing the local stores you like :) Although the only thing we might be in the market for in the next year is a dining room table and Craigslist might suffice for that. We have gotten pieces from Brunke that are a bit pricier, but also “forever” pieces.

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My name is J.D. Roth. I started Get Rich Slowly in 2006 to document my personal journey as I dug out of debt. Then I shared while I learned to save and invest. Twelve years later, I've managed to reach early retirement! I'm here to help you master your money — and your life. No scams. No gimmicks. Just smart money advice to help you get rich slowly. Read more.

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